WAR: Intrusion by Vanessa Kier Page B

about this Natchaba guy. If you can get your hands on the remains of one of the MP3 players, all the better. I’d like JC to take a look at one.”
    Lachlan moved away from the admin building and studied the groups of medical and law enforcement personnel working on the field. “I don’t know if there’s much hope of retrieving a unit, but I’ll do my best. We should also have Dr. Kirk work with a sketch artist on an image of Natchaba.”
    “Agreed. I’ll look into arranging it. When you’ve wrapped up there, give me a heads up and we’ll pull you out.”
    Lachlan rang off, then found the head of the law enforcement team and offered his assistance. The man nodded and assigned Lachlan to the team collecting evidence, which allowed Lachlan to surreptitiously snag and bag the remains of one of the MP3 players. The collections team was allowed to box and label debris from the sites of the explosions, but when they found an intact device they simply marked it with a flag. The man in charge of the bomb squad told Lachlan that witnesses had already confirmed that turning the MP3 players on had triggered the explosives. “About a third of the players, they never detonated,” the man said with a shrug. “We do not know if they were faulty or if they simply were not powered on. But they could still go boom.” He nodded toward a man wearing a protective suit who was gently setting an MP3 player into a containment unit. The government apparently didn’t have the budget for remote devices.
    Four hours later, the group had finished their collection. Lachlan wanted to acquire an intact MP3 player for sending back to WAR HQ, but there was no safe way for him to handle the undetonated devices.
    Lachlan had just removed his gloves when Tony contacted him on the comm unit. Lachlan waved good-bye to the members of the team, then headed across the nearly empty field toward the admin building. In front of the building, the last of the wounded were being loaded onto ambulances and lorries.
    “All of the seriously wounded have been treated and are being sent to hospital,” Tony reported. “The police have given their okay for Dr. Kirk and her team to take those with minor injuries back to her clinic. They’re free to leave any time. What do you want to do?”
    Meaning, was Lachlan going to turn Dr. Kirk in for the smuggling? “Your thoughts?”
    “I believe her,” Tony said. “She’s worked her arse off saving lives and hasn’t taken a single break. She even got tetchy with a few nurses who weren’t working fast enough. And… She does a good job trying to hide it, but she’s grieving. Many of the victims were people she considered friends.”
    Lachlan remembered the glimpse of Dr. Kirk he’d had earlier, the sense of utter despair conveyed by her bowed head. He rubbed between his eyes. Perhaps the doctor had been telling the truth.
    “Plus, she’s our best link to Natchaba right now,” Tony added.
    “Aye. All right, we’ll keep our silence for the moment. I have some fragments for the lab to analyze once we’re back at HQ, so there’s nothing more for me to do. Let’s get out of here.”

CHAPTER SEVEN
    “ I STILL DON’T trust you,” MacKay announced, striding in to the headmistress’s office where Helen was working. She glanced up from the arm she was bandaging but didn’t reply, not trusting herself to answer civilly. On the heels of his aggressive interrogation, she shouldn’t have found this declaration so hurtful, but still her chest ached at the unfairness of his hostility.
    Shoving aside her feelings, she tied off the bandage, then sent the teenage boy back to his waiting mother. Only after she’d disposed of the medical waste did she turn to face MacKay. “So why are you here? Are you going to arrest me? Turn me over to the authorities?” Her stomach flip-flopped at the thought of being locked up, but she refused to be cowed by him.
    He scowled at her. “No. You’re still needed to help the